Vote Yes or Shut Up
From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Thu, 2008-01-17 23:09
A quote from Daniel Hannan MEP at his blog, 17 January 2008
MEPs [Members of the European Parliament] have two rights that not even the Speaker can infringe. We can demand that a vote be held electronically rather than by show of hands – a slightly slower procedure, but one that guarantees accuracy and allows everyone to see how individual MEPs vote. And, when the vote is over, we have the right to state, in not more than a minute, why we voted as we did. […] [This week] even this was too much for the parliamentary authorities. With brazen disregard for their own rulebook, they disallowed [the] requests [from MEPs opposing the Lisbon Treaty] for explanations of how members voted and suspended the session. […] [The Speaker] simply announced that “this house is sovereign” and that a minority could not stand in the way of the majority. […]
The authorities are now threatening – almost unbelievably – to disallow requests for electronic votes, […] [T]heir latest suggestion [is] that MEPs who protest in the chamber should – angels and ministers of grace defend us! – have their allowances docked.


